The Lost Chapters
by Skyshadow54
Summary: Missions that were top secret. Adventures that were untold. Experiences forgotten. Tales withheld. These are bits and pieces of stories that happen elsewhere, between, or just plain forgotten about. This story will include characters featured in my other stories along with ones who do not appear. (Under rewrite.)


**Hey there everyone! :) This chapter is backtracking a bit from the last one, happening a bit before and around the beginning of OS.**

 **If you haven't read Survival of the Fittest, this chapter might contain a small spoiler.**

 **Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six - Outcast**

"Skyshadow! Get down from there!"

The small femmeling looked down from her perch high on the side of a building, far above her carrier's helm.

"Okay, I'm coming!" she called down, moving to slide back down the drain pipe mounted on the side of the wall.

Once Skyshadow had slid to the ground, she skittered over to her carrier who was waiting for her. The pink and yellow femme tapped her pede on the ground a few more times before kneeling in a crouch before the five-vorn-old.

"Skyshadow, how many times have we told you, you cannot simply climb up to such heights! You will fall and damage yourself!"

The red and black youngling hung her helm, wings drooping. "I'm sorry, Carrier."

Pulling her into a hug, Carnation spoke again, her tone becoming gentler. "I was worried, Sweetspark. Please don't do that again."

Returning the embrace, Skyshadow nodded. She didn't like scaring her carrier, even though she didn't understand what there was to be frightened of. Her sire didn't seem to care if she climbed things, why did her carrier?

"Let's go home now, Skyshadow," Carnation said, straightening and walking away. "Come along."

Hurrying to catch up, Skyshadow reached and caught hold of her carrier's hand. The two made their way home in silence.

Skyshadow, because she'd been taught, younglings shouldn't talk unless spoken to. Which of course, she often forgot.

Carnation was quiet because she was attempting to figure out a way to prevent her daughter from possibly falling to her offlinement. She would have to talk to her sparkmate about this. Not being a flier herself made her wonder if it was common for winged younglings to seek out high places before they could actually fly. It would make sense, fliers loved high places, her sparkmate included.

Hopefully he would have some answers.

" _Although,"_ the femme realized, faceplate turning downwards in a frown _. "He never seems that concerned when I tell him about Skyshadow's- Habits."_

She sighed. Their other youngling was much easier to deal with.

* * *

The black and red Seeker flicked his wingtips agitatedly as he listened to his sparkmate ranting.

He was glad that she was telling him her concerns. It was better that they communicated rather then keep things to themselves. They told each other everything, which he was grateful for.

However, this _issue_ as his sparkmate called it, was becoming a sensitive topic.

For him anyways.

"I just don't know what to do. Skyshadow just gets a notion and sneaks off. Before I can blink, she's twice your height off the ground. If she keeps this up- "

"She going to fall and offline herself?" the Seeker interrupted dryly, shooting his sparkmate a wry grin.

She didn't hardly notice. "Yes! Exactly!"

"Sweetspark," Ironshadow said, leaning forward. He reached across the table, taking hold of one of her hands. "Skyshadow will be _fine_. Even though she can't fly, she has great balance and likely won't fall."

"But- "

The Seeker held up his free hand and shook his helm slightly. "Hear me out. We fliers are a little different from you grounders. I was exactly the same way when I was young, before I could fly. I maybe fell a couple times, but I turned out alright. Never got hurt too badly. We need to spend time in the sky and for a fledgling who can't fly yet..." He shrugged. "It's the best they can get."

The pink and gold femme smiled, but her optics still looked doubtful. She placed her other hand on top of her sparkmate's.

"If you say so."

* * *

The red and black sat watching from the edge of the playground.

Younglings ran after each other in a game of tag nearby. Others climbed around on the playground equipment. Still others played in the sandbox, her brother included.

But Skyshadow simply watched.

Being the only flier in her class and age group, it had made her a bit of an outcast.

All the other younglings had creators who were grounders. Not many grounders got along or thought much of fliers. Especially Seekers or those who were related to or were friends with. That sometimes extended to their younglings.

Sometimes, it was merely indifference. Other times, it could almost be called fear or hostility.

Skyshadow didn't know the technicalities of it really. She was too young to understand why the others didn't particularly like her much. Only that her brother was friends with almost all of their class and they thought she was weird.

Of course, her brother was her friend and he tried to stand up for her. He really did try. But Skyshadow had often told him that it was fine, she didn't like mecha anyways.

So, he would sometimes leave her to herself and go play with his friends.

Which was fine.

At the age of six vorns, Skyshadow was used to it.

" _Sire has some friends, but not many here,"_ she thought. _"I wonder why mecha don't like Seekers."_

In reality, it was almost unheard of for Seekers to dwell outside their city-state. Even more unheard of, was a Seeker bonding to someone who wasn't one of them. Let alone a grounder.

Something Skyshadow would someorn realize, was that her sire was just as much, if not more so, of an outcast as she was.

Except he wasn't a twin.

Skyshadow and her brother were twins.

Twins to begin with, were rare. For a set of twins to be a flier and a grounder was even rarer.

Skyshadow glanced up as a teacher approached.

"Hello, Skyshadow," the femme said warmly, moving to sit beside the femmeling. "All by yourself again?"

The red and black shrugged, shifting her wings as she did. "Yes, ma'am. I like watching."

Pressing her lips together in a line, the teacher nodded her helm. "I see."

After sitting together in silence for a few kliks, the femme spoke again.

"Would you like to come and help me with something, Skyshadow?"

The youngling nodded her helm. Both got to their pedes and walked towards the school.

Once they reached the classroom, they got to work. Skyshadow organized the art supplies cupboard and began wiping off the board used for lessons. The teacher went on preparing the next orns lesson, but kept an optic on her student.

Not only was Skyshadow the smallest youngling in her class, she was the quietest too. By far.

Some orns, it was no wonder that the other students overlooked her.

It worried the teacher.

"Skyshadow?" she said, getting the youngling's attention. "Is there anything bothering you?"

Skyshadow, with her servo raised midair, cleaning cloth in hand, looked at her teacher in confusion. She furrowed her optic ridges as she thought about the question.

" _Why does she ask that?"_

"No, ma'am. Did I do something?"

The femme shook her helm. "No. I just ask because, well, you don't say much. I wondered if there was something bothering you, something you think about a lot."

Tilting her helm, Skyshadow considered it. _"I think about a lot of things. But I don't think any of the things bother me."_

"Okay." She didn't really know what else to say, so she just waited for the teacher to continue. Or go back to her work. She didn't really know why she'd brought this up all of a sudden.

Skyshadow was always quiet. If nobody talked to her, what was the point of talking? And, like her carrier had said, younglings weren't supposed to talk to adult mecha unless they talked to them.

Unless they needed something, then there were different rules for that.

But it was rude to interrupt mecha when they were talking to each other.

And Skyshadow never had anything much to say anyways, so she didn't really care.

"Well," the teacher said, a sad smile on her faceplate as she looked at her student. "If there is anything you want to talk about, Skyshadow, you can always talk to me. My office is always open to students."

Skyshadow nodded her helm. "Thank you."

Seeing that the conversation was over, they both went back to what they'd been doing.

Or tried to, in the teacher's case.

" _I really do wonder if there's a reason that Skyshadow doesn't talk or interact with the other younglings,"_ she wondered internally. _"Some mecha are just quiet, which is perfectly fine. But I still can't help but wonder about this one."_

She turned her glance towards the red and black youngling, who seemed to be content enough as she cleaned the board, standing on a chair to be able to reach higher.

" _Her brother is outgoing."_ The teacher chuckled lightly _. "He talks enough for both of them. Both, charming younglings. The younger one- She concerns me. I will have to keep an optic on her."_

Skyshadow meanwhile, had pushed the conversation to the back of her processor to think about later.

" _Sire said he'd take me flying when he gets home this offcycle. I can't wait! I wonder where we'll go. Maybe to Vos! But that's probably too far to go this offcycle. Carrier will want me to get enough recharge for school again next orn. That's okay, Sire says he'll take us all to Vos some orn. I wonder if it's much different than Kalis. I bet there's a lot more fliers there."_

She paused, hand still on the board. Her wings twitched and her optic ridges furrowed. _"I wonder if younglings there would play with me."_

* * *

"So, how was school this orn, Skyshadow?" the Seeker inquired as he flew high above the city.

"It was okay. I helped my teacher tidy the classroom a little at recess," Skyshadow replied, looking out of the cockpit eagerly.

"Yeah? Instead of playing outside?"

"Well, I went outside for a little bit, but then she came out and asked if I wanted to help her."

"Hmm. Good for you for helping her, Sky. She's nice, isn't she?"

"Yes, I like her."

"Me too," laughed Ironshadow, happy his daughter had found somebody she liked. And that _someone_ seemed to show interest in Skyshadow other than him and his sparkmate. And her twin of course.

"So, where do you want to go this offcycle?"

Skyshadow glanced down at the dashboard in front of her, where her sire's voice came from when he was in his alt form. A mischievous grin crept into her voice as she slyly asked, "To Vos?"

"Oh no, missy!" the mech said, his deep laugh filling the cabin. "That's a little bit too far for this offcycle."

"I know, but I wanted to ask, just in case," Skyshadow said, laughing a little herself. "Can we go to that one place you took me once? With the caves?"

"For you, Skyshadow, I will," replied the black and red Seeker.

It was a place that he had found once and thought was pretty neat, despite it being underground. So, he had taken his daughter there to show her.

And even though he, as a Seeker, wasn't overly fond of places where he couldn't see the sky, would take her there again.

Skyshadow asked for so little, he'd indulge her this adventure.

" _Funny, Sky doesn't seem to mind some things as much as I do,"_ he pondered as he banked to the left, switching his flight path towards where the cave was located. _"Which is a good thing, I think. Huh, must be cause she's not full Seeker."_

"Sire?" Skyshadow said, breaking his train of thought.

"Yes, Skyshadow?"

"Why did you leave Vos to come and live here? Didn't you like it where there were more fliers?"

The jet was quiet for a few kliks, considering how to respond. If she was older, he would tell Skyshadow all the reasons. But he didn't know that she needed to know them all right now.

"Well," he said, tone quiet. "I met your carrier here in Kalis. And this was her home, I couldn't take her away from it when we bonded. And she probably wouldn't like Vos very much."

Actually, he knew for a fact that she didn't. But he didn't blame her. Ground based Cybertronians weren't usually very welcome in Vos.

"But I did like Vos," he continued. "Still do. Why I'm in the armada still. Unfortunately, that means being away from my family a little more than I like."

"Oh." Skyshadow was quiet, still watching the scenery below them. Then, she spoke up again. "I'm glad you still go to Vos."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"Cause then you get to be there too, in the city-state that was your home, the one you loved. Even if it's not all the time. And besides, you're not gone away _that_ much."

"Thanks Sky. That makes me glad."

Skyshadow smiled. "That's good."

"I'm proud of you, you know that right?"

"Yes, Sire."

"Good. Never forget that, okay?"

"I won't," Skyshadow replied, beaming happily.

* * *

"Hey, Sky!" called the yellow and black youngling. "Come play with us!"

Skyshadow looked across the playground where he brother was waving her over.

"Okay."

As she made her way to the small group of younglings, Skyshadow's curiosity got the better of her.

" _Wonder what they're playing,"_ she thought.

A few of the younglings gave her strange looks as she joined, but she didn't notice.

"We're gonna play hide and seek," her twin said happily. "Who wants to be it?"

" _Oh, this game is fun,"_ Skyshadow thought with a grin.

Several younglings raised their hands. One youngling who'd raised his hand first was selected after a short argument.

He closed his optics and began to count while the rest scattered to find a place to hide.

Skyshadow grabbed her brother's hand and pointed over to the school building. "This way," she whispered, tugging him to follow her.

With a quick nod, Bee smiled and wordlessly followed. His sister somehow always found some of the best hiding places.

The twins quickly ran to a shed sitting near the school. It was used mainly for storage for things to take care of the property with. This was known by most of the younglings attending the school.

But Sky and a few others knew something else about it.

"Sky," hissed Bumblebee as she let go of his hand once they reached it. "We're not allowed in there."

Skyshadow rolled her optics. "I know. We're not going to hide inside it."

She walked around to the side of it, looking over her shoulder to make sure the youngling who was 'it' was still counting.

Bumblebee frowned, but followed his sister. "Where are we going?"

"Shhh!"

Bee's optics widened as he saw the small hole in the ground just beside the shed. "How long has that been there?"

Skyshadow shrugged. "Not sure. I seen some of the older younglings digging it a few decacycles ago. They wanted to dig a tunnel or something. Probably did it here so the teachers wouldn't see. But it makes a good hiding place. Come on."

With that, she climbed into the hole.

"Ready or not, here I come!" yelled the youngling who was now about to start seeking for everyone.

Hurriedly, Bumblebee scrambled in after Skyshadow.

It wasn't very big. Just enough room for them both to sit down with a little bit of room to spare.

"Oww!" Skyshadow hissed. "Bee, you're sitting on my pede!"

"Sorry!" whispered Bumblebee. He moved over slightly, allowing her to move her pede.

"I thought it would be bigger than this, even with both of us in here," muttered Skyshadow. Her wings twitched. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..."

"What do you mean? We both fit and they won't be able to find us in here."

"That means we have to stay in here longer."

"So? Ohh..." Bee trailed off, figuring out why his twin was suddenly so nervous. "Right, you don't like small spaces."

"At least we can see the sky," Skyshadow muttered, a frown tugging at her faceplate.

They quieted as they heard several pedesteps nearby.

"I saw them come this way," said a femmeling.

"Are you sure? Why would they hide over here?" asked the mechling who'd been counting.

"Cheaters," hissed Skyshadow in her twin's audio.

"She must have been found first," replied Bee.

"Well, it's the twins!" huffed the little femme.

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. How did that explain anything?

The pedesteps sounded like they went around the back of the shed. The pair kept talking, but their voices were now muffled.

"They're going to find the hole," Bee whispered. "And then us."

Skyshadow shrugged, wings copying the motion. "Oh well. It was still a pretty good spot. I bet it would've been longer before we got found if they didn't cheat. Besides, I'm ready to get out of here anyways."

Bumblebee was about to reply, but he saw the look that came across his sister's faceplate.

A dark smirk, accompanied by a mischievous look in her optic.

"Sky?"

"I have an idea," she replied, shuffling closer to their hiding spot's entrance.

Bee prodded their bond, hoping for more of an answer than that. He was rewarded only by feelings of mischief and glee.

He rolled his optics and crossed his servos. Settling back to watch his twin carry out whatever scheme she had thought of, he smirked.

This should be interesting, whatever it was that she had planned.

Their sire was right, Skyshadow had an impish sense of humour sometimes.

But then, he and Bumblebee weren't any different sometimes. No wonder their carrier was sometimes frustrated with the three of them.

The voices above grew closer again as the two younglings rounded the corner of the shed.

Skyshadow crouched on her haunches, as if ready to spring.

Who knew, maybe she was.

"Hey, what's that?"

"I think someone dug a hole back here."

"Let's check it out!"

They didn't get a chance.

Just as they reached the edge, Skyshadow darted forwards. She reached out, grabbing one of each of their pedes.

"Ahh!" they screamed as they jerked away.

"What's in there?" screeched the femmeling, hiding behind her companion.

"I don't know!" he yelled in reply, staying where he was. He wasn't scared. No way!

Skyshadow poked her helm out of the hole, an expression of absolute boredom on her faceplate.

"It's just us, you scaredy-cybercats," she said.

The two watched as she climbed out, followed by Bumblebee, who was trying to stop laughing.

"Oh, that was great! You two should've heard yourselves!" he wheezed, bending over with laughter.

"Ugh, it's just them," muttered the femmeling. She began to walk away, helm held high in the air.

"I wasn't scared, I just jumped," lied the mechling, scowling down at Skyshadow. "Anyways, I found you two."

Skyshadow crossed her servos, staring back up at him. "Cause you cheated. And if you weren't scared, then why did you scream?"

"I didn't cheat! And I was surprised."

"Sure," shrugged Skyshadow, turning to walk back to the playground. "And I'm purple with green spots."

The mechling glared after the red and black femmeling, not having a comeback ready for that.

Bumblebee snickered, having finally recovered. "Well, are you going to go find the others now?"

The only response he got was a snort as the other youngling walked away. Or rather, stomped away.

Bee cheerily went to catch up with his twin.

Only then did he realize, that they both were covered helm to pede in dirt.

With a groan, he muttered, "Carrier isn't going to like this."

* * *

And indeed, she didn't.

The moment she saw them, her optics widened and she gasped.

"What happened to you two?"

Bumblebee looked at Skyshadow. Skyshadow looked at Bumblebee.

"Well," Bee started, rubbing the back of his helm sheepishly. "We were playing hide and seek and- "

"Hide and seek?" asked Carnation in disbelief, placing her hands on her hips as she studied her two younglings. "It's looks more like you were rolling in the dirt."

The twins exchanged a glance.

"We were hiding in a hole behind the tool shed," said Skyshadow slowly, wondering how their carrier would react to that.

"I- See," was her only reply, a little bit surprised.

"It wasn't dangerous, Carrier," Bumblebee assured quickly. "And we'll go get cleaned up right now."

"Alright," she nodded, still not totally convinced about the whole thing.

She watched as the pair scurried away upstairs, somehow still leaving dirty pede prints as they went.

She sighed, shaking her helm as she went to the closet to get the broom.

" _These younglings. Some orns I really wonder what to do with them."_

* * *

 **Credit Song: Little Girl – Faith Marie**


End file.
